The Pony Games
by Aelita Dash
Summary: Twilight and her friends have been chosen to compete in the 75th annual Pony Games. Who will kill who? Who will win? Rated T for violence duh and mild language. Enjoy!
1. One Dreadful Morning

As soon as Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, she felt the dread of what would happen today. Today was the Reaping, and everypony in Ponyville had to show up unless they were dying. She sighed and tucked her head underneath her pillow. It was 7 in the morning. Pushing off some of her blanket with her hooves, she sat up and glanced over towards Spike's basket. He was still sound asleep, looking quite innocent clutching onto his covers and his eyebrows curved upward. The unicorn slinked out of bed and proceeded downstairs to get ready.

Within an hour or two, Twilight looked quite nice in a tight white dress tied with a bright pink ribbon and a matching bow in her mane. After touching herself up with some eyeliner, she went back up to wake Spike. She nudged him with her hoof and he stretched up, rubbing his eyes. Yawning, he said, "Twilight… good morning."

The dragon knew what to expect today. One unicorn, Pegasus, and earth pony from each town would each be chosen for the 75th Pony Games, a fight to death where each second is broadcasted live to all of Equestria. Dragons, however, are safe. Getting chosen means almost certain death, because only one victor is allowed to remain.

Before they knew it, Spike and Twilight were headed into the center of Ponyville where the mayor would draw names for who had to be sent off to Canterlot to start getting ready. The unicorn could not be more nervous.

"Fillies and gentlecolts! The time has come for us to select three ponies to participate in the 75th annual Pony Games. One unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony will be drawn. But first, let's all take a moment to remember what the Pony Games are really about."

On a giant screen, a video played about how many years ago, ponies rebelled against Canterlot and that an entire city had even been destroyed. It showed ridiculous images that according to Twilight's books, might not even be accurate. When the clip was over, the mayor went back to her sickly cheerful personality.

"Okay! As you may know, every 25 years, the Pony Games are what we call a Quarter Quell!"

That's right. Each 25 years, Canterlot puts some weird twist on the Pony Games. The 50th Games had twice as many tributes, and the 25th had only family members of previous victors drawn from the pool. The Mayor held up a card, and spoke into the microphone.

"So this year, the tribute ponies are… That's strange… All contestants will be from the same town!"

"_Wait a minute… If all participants are from the same town… And the Reaping is being held here…_"

HOLY BUCK.


	2. The Reaping

This couldn't be happening! Gasps and shrieks erupted throughout the crowd. Ponies started crying and exchanging nervous glances.

"Remain calm, everypony!" The mayor called. "It's time to draw the names!"

The ponies all fell silent, except you could still hear the sniffling of ponies sobbing and fearing for the lives of themselves and the ones they love.

"As you all know, we have usually have 24 tributes compete. But because all ponies come from the same town this year, the Canterlot Pony Games council have agreed to shorten it to 15!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. _"Oh, that was _so _nice of them,"_ she thought. _"Now only 15 innocent ponies have to fight to the death on live television."_

"First, we will draw 5 unicorns from the basket!" She pulled out five slips of paper one by one from the jar. "Our first tribute… Lyra Heartstrings!"

The green unicorn looked like she had just seen a ghost. Pale and shaky, a few tears slid out of her cheeks as she walked up to the podium.

Mayor Mare said in a sing-song voice, "The name of our next tribute is… Rarity!"

"_Oh no," _Thought Twilight. _"Not her!"_

Spike burst into a fit of mass hysteria. He ran over to Rarity's family before Twilight could stop him and hugged Sweetie Belle. Twilight looked down to the ground. What were the odds that Rarity would be able to make it out alive? Would she know enough magic to help her in the arena?

"Next up is Colgate!"

Although Twilight never really talked to her much, she still felt her sorrow when the blue mare walked up on stage, a look of sheer horror frozen on her face.

"Our 4th unicorn tribute this year is Sea Swirl!"

Looking around, Twilight saw that Sea Swirl was a purple unicorn like herself. She felt a pang of sympathy. She felt so sorry for all the tributes, especially Rarity. What kind of luck is that?

"And… Our final tribute…" The mayor held up a card. "Would be… Miss Twilight Sparkle!"

WHAT! Her body felt numb and she thought she would pass out. Did she really say that right? Was she really going into the arena with RARITY!

Shaking, she attempted to walk up near the microphone. She felt dizzy.

"It's time for the pegasi!" The pony cheered. She ought to teleport away. For a moment she considered it, but at that point Canterlot wouldn't rest until they found her and shot her through the head. She shuddered at the thought. Nope, there was no escaping this.

"First is… Fluttershy!"

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

The yellow mare let out a shriek and ducked behind some other ponies, kicking and screaming as the Canterlot assistant ponies dragged her up to the stage. She clutched onto Twilight and Rarity with a death grip, bawling her eyes out.

As Rarity tried to calm her friend down, Twilight wondered if she was dreaming. She slapped herself over and over with both hooves.

The mayor called out three more tributes-Thunderlane, a strongly built dark grey male, Flitter, a purple female with a pretty blue mane, and Derpy. Twilight had seen this pony before. Her sunny yellow eyes seemed to lose its color.

"And then we have… Rainbow Dash."

Twilight wasn't too worried. In fact, Rainbow Dash just might win. She was definitely athletic enough. Still, she couldn't help but worry when she saw a nervous looking Pegasus fly up to the podium.

"And that concludes our pegasus tributes! Now for the Earth ponies…"

Burying her hoof into the jar, she read off the names rather quickly, eager to get on with the training.

"Um… Earth Pony tributes. Caramel, Bon Bon, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and… Doctor? Nevermind, will all of you good fillies and gentle-colts step up here so we can get started on your training."

The five ponies approached the stage, and before she could even fully process what was happening, Twilight blacked out.

(Authors Note: I know the Reaping was boring and redundant, sorry. But this is where the story really starts to get exciting! Please rate and bear with me!)


End file.
